


Coffee Break

by natashasbanner



Series: 30 Days of Bruce/Natasha Fluff [11]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-13 20:25:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12991863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natashasbanner/pseuds/natashasbanner
Summary: Bruce is exhausted after a weekend with the Barton kids and Natasha shows up with the perfect remedy.





	Coffee Break

**Author's Note:**

> This is day 11, a day late. Sorry, but real life got in the way. I am on track for the rest of the month so worry not and enjoy :D

Bruce let out a long sigh as he closed his office door after one of his students. He was in the middle of the longest office hours of his life. It wasn’t that he didn’t like answering his students’ questions, their curiosity and drive to learn was refreshing and energized him usually. But after a four day weekend with the Barton kids he was beyond exhausted. The three of them kept he and Natasha running around in circles until Barton and Laura picked them up on Monday morning. 

He sank into his desk chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. He closed his eyes, willing time to move faster so he could go home and sleep for a couple days at the very least. 

Bruce straightened up at the light knock on the and schooled his features to what he hoped was a neutral expression. 

“Come in,” he called out and was surprised when Natasha came strolling in with two to go coffee cups in hand. 

“Hey,” she greeted, pushing the door shut behind her with an elbow. 

Bruce smiled up at her as she crossed the room to stand in front of his desk. 

“Hi.” He slumped back in his chair. “What are you doing here?” 

“I thought you might need this.” She held out one of the cups for him and he accepted gratefully. 

He held the warm cup between his hands for a second before greedily taking a drink. The coffee was hot but he didn’t care he needed the boost. 

“You’re the best,” Bruce told her after a few more sips. 

Natasha smirked and walked around to sit beside him on the edge of the desk. 

“I know,” she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “How are you holding up?” 

“I’m drinking coffee,” he said giving her a look. Tea was his beverage of choice, decaffeinated most of the time. 

She smirked and tapped the lid of his cup. “It’s half decaf.” 

“Thanks.” He took another sip. “How are you not falling over right now?” 

Natasha had done more running around after the kids than he had, and showed no signs of the bone deep exhaustion he felt. 

“They don’t call me Auntie Nat for nothing,” she laughed, rubbing his shoulder soothingly. 

“Lucky you,” he mumbled before taking another long sip from his cup. 

“Clint said they wouldn’t stop talking about you the whole way home,” she said after a few beats of silence. 

Bruce sat back in his chair and raised his furrowed his brow in confusion and a little surprise. He’d been awkward, unsure how to handle the kids, where he fit in with them and Natasha. Nathaniel had been attached to his hip the last day, but he’d just chalked it up to his willingness to give the kid piggyback rides. 

“Really?” he asked. “What did they say?” 

“According to Clint they went on and on about how much fun they had at Auntie Nat’s house,” she started, pausing to sip from her own cup. “They can’t wait to hang out with Uncle Bruce again. Their words not mine.”

Bruce felt a warmth build in his chest and the corners of his mouth lifted involuntarily. 

“I didn’t think I made much of an impression,” he said thoughtfully, finishing off the rest of his coffee, a little disappointed that it was gone already. 

Natasha gave him a playful shove and his chair rolled back from his desk. 

“You’re too modest,” she told him, shaking her head. “Those kids adored you.” 

She pushed off the desk and situated herself in his lap, her free hand on his chest. 

Bruce looked up at her, his head tilted slightly. “I didn’t do much.” 

“You let Cooper help make dinner every night, Clint said he bragged for an hour about using the big knives to Laura,” Natasha told him and chuckled. 

Bruce had noticed that Barton’s oldest hovering around the kitchen when he’d started making the chicken noodle soup for dinner the first night. Bruce asked if he wanted to help him chop up the vegetables and Cooper had nodded eagerly. He was a quick study, quiet but happy to watch and learn what Bruce telling him about making the simple dish. For the rest of their stay, he was Bruce’s right hand in the kitchen. No big deal. 

“And Lila was beyond impressed with your coloring skills,” Natasha went on. “I’m keeping all of them by the way.” 

He ducked his head and pressed his forehead to her shoulder. 

“They’re just silly doodles,” he argued. 

He’d found Lila in the office Saturday afternoon. He didn’t know where she found the crayons, but she’d taken some paper from the printer and was contentedly drawing by herself. She asked him to join her and the pair sat for hours together. She was very talkative and curious and Bruce did his best to answer the rapid fire questions she threw at him. Around lunchtime she got bored and on their way to find everyone else to eat, she gave him a shockingly accurate drawing of the view of their backyard from the office window. 

Bruce had hung the drawing on the fridge and Lila seemed pleased with it. But that was the most interaction they’d had the entire weekend. 

“And Clint said if Nate asks to sleep in a fort one more time he’s sending him back to us for good,” she said finally and laughed. 

“That one was your idea,” he reminded her, patting her thigh. 

“Yes, but you and Nate built it together.” 

Natasha had suggested movie night and a pillow fort for the first night and little Nathaniel had been very vocal about building it. Bruce helped him and they all spent the night cramped under the blankets and couch cushions. 

Bruce just thought it was little stuff to help keep them entertained between bouts of them running themselves to exhaustion. He never would have guessed he’d made that big an impression. 

“It was a fun weekend,” he finally conceded. They were good kids, even if Bruce felt like he would fall asleep any minute. 

“Laura wants to know if Uncle Bruce and Auntie Nat if we can babysit again for her birthday. She’s making Clint take her skiing, just the two of them.” 

She smirked at him over the rim of her cup with raised eyebrows. 

“What do you say?” she asked. 

Bruce took her cup and downed a long sip of the bitter liquid. She didn’t put more than one sugar in her coffee and Bruce coughed as it went down. She stole the cup back with a smug smile. 

“I say let’s do it,” he answered and dropped his head against her arm again. “But we’re going to have to fit in nap time for Uncle Bruce next time.” 

“You’ll have to work that out with the kids yourself,” she said and ran her fingers through his hair. “I’ll text Laura, later.” 

Bruce smiled against her skin. It felt nice, being a part of a family again. 

**Author's Note:**

> I can also be found on tumblr @natashasbanner :D


End file.
